Apparatus to facilitate insertion of newspaper supplements

ABSTRACT

Apparatus to facilitate insertion of newspaper supplements including means for separating a bundle of sheets comprising a folded newspaper. Means are included for feeding in folded newspapers, advancing the newspaper vertically along a lineal plane with baffle means supporting the newspaper; a plurality of drive rollers extending through the baffle on either side of the conveyer, so as to engage the folded sides of the newspaper and urge the newspaper downwardly and forwardly along a conveyor support; a pointed probe longitudinally aligned along the path of travel of the newspaper so as to engage the leading edge thereof at the top and separate the sheets laterally as they are advanced; a travelling conveyer for conveying the opened newspaper into and through a supplement insertion zone including a holddown and registry mechanism for the opened newspaper and supplement, and subsequent discharge. Means are also provided to minimize possible smearing of ink as the newspaper travels through the various zones. The apparatus is particularly adapted to separating a printed newspaper prior to stuffing with inserts such as a TV Guide, Classified Advertising, Book Review supplements, and the like.

United States Patent 11 1 [111 3,752,468 Hart et al. Aug. 14, 1973 APPARATUS TO FACILITATE INSERTION [57] ABSTRACT OF NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENTS I Apparatus to facilltate insertion of newspaper supple- Inventors: Charles H. Hart, Nazareth, Pa. meats includin g means for separatmg a bundle of George Cashau Ph'hpsburg' sheets comprising a folded newspaper. Means are in- [73] Assig e; Anpa, E m P eluded for feeding in folded'newspapers, advancing the newspaper vertically alonga lineal plane with baffle [22] 4 1971 means supporting the newspaper; a plurality of drive [2]] A M 192,094 rollers extending through the bafile on either side of the conveyer, so as to. engage the folded sides of the m Application Data newspaper and urge the newspaper downwardly and continuation-impart 0f Oct. forwardly along a conveyor support; a pointed probe 1970, 3,711,084- longitudinally aligned along the path of travel of the newspaper so as to engage the leading edge thereof at u 33, the top and separate the sheets laterally as they are ad- 1 Int. Cl.

van ed; a travelling conyeye for conveying the opened [58] Field of Search ..270/5355, 57; newspaper into and through a supplement insertion 1 /2 75; 198/133 zone including a holddown and registry mechanism for the opened newspaper and supplement, and subse- [56] References (med quent discharge. Means are also provided to minimize UNITED STATES PATENTS possible smearing of ink as the newspaper travels 3,638,936 2/1972 Hart et a] 270/57 through the various Zones- 1793953 2/193l 'F y a 271/75 x The apparatus is particularly adapted to separating a 845,836 3/1907 Wines 270/55 p i newspaper prior to stuffing with inserts such as FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS a TV Guide, Classified Advertising, Book Review 358,444 1/1962 Switzerland 270/57 Supplements, and the like- Primary Examiner--Robert W. Michell n 12 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Assistant Examiner-L. R. Oremland Attomey-David l-l. Semmes 4 PRO E OPENED PAPER &SUPPLEMENTL ii E N I I OPENED PAPER OPEBN8' EED IN REGISTRATION ZONE msEP T CONVEYER ZONE ZONE ZONE \s 1121 I8 2 l n 7 F 20 /\1 1/ 1/11 4 WW C" 22 C U i V '52 4e 52 i O as 52 51*- O 30 2e '24 PATENTEU MN; 14 I975 SHEEI 2 BF 3 INVENTORS CHARLES H. HART {p GEORGE RCASHAU PATENIEI] M12 14 I973 SHEET 3 UP 3 \NVENTORS CHARLES H. HART GEORGE F2. CASHAU ATTORN EY APPARATUS TO FACILITATE INSERTION F NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENTS CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS A continuation-impart of applicants Apparatus for Separating a Bundle of Plural Sheets, Ser. No. 84,329, filed Oct. 27, 1970 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,084.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION four inserts may accompany the daily and-Sunday editions. The recent increase in Post'Office bulk mailing rates has contributedto the popularity of advertising in newspapers by inserts.

In the near future, printed newspapers will be delivered at belt speeds-of 70,000 newspapers per hour.

. Thus, devices for separation and the stuffing of the newspaper are required to'be accomplished at this speed in order to stay abreast of innovations in the newspaper printing industry. Conventionally, separating is done on a rotary rack, the sides of the paper being split by'a reciprocating pawl, or by vacuuming, and the stuffing is induced vertically from above.

2. Description'of the Prior Art Fowler and Henkle 408,095 Curry and Linn 881,305 Nelson 1,616,061 Hathaway 1,845,412 Livingston, et al. 1,883,307

Snyder -These references disclose separating the-newspapers with mechanical spreaders and vacuum techniques.

' Note especially Fowler who teaches the use of spreader rollers 28 (column 3, lines 115-134 and column 4, lines l-35) as well asa bottom spine 33 to separate the folds.

1 Curry uses a shaped guide, as well as lateral vacuum discloses apparatus constituting an improvement and innovations over such known prior art and constitutes a substantial advance to the newspaper industry. The present invention relates to improvements and additions over and above our prior apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the folded newspaper is fed into separating and supplement inserting zones bymeans of feed-in rolls coacting with a deflecting baffle. The so fed newspaper is rotatably grabbed on opposite sides adjacent the bottom by a plurality of rollers, and moved into sliding contact with a plate strip, such as teflon, that'allows the paper toslide along until it is contacted with an opener in the nature of an upwardly tilted pointed probe, in proximity to the upper open side ofthe. newspaper, which serves to initially open the bundle constituting the newspaper.

Subsequently,, the so opened newspaper is conveyed by means of a mo ving conveyor belt coating with a holddown mechanism which also aids as a positive drive mechanism to the opened paper. A guideway is provided to support the newspaper in its open position, or rotating wire bands synchronized withthe holddown mechanism may be substituted to carry the paper and prevent ink smearing.

Additional'objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments thereof, when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of the invention showing a folded newspaper feeder, conveyor rollers, opening probe and conveyors for transporting partially opened newspaper through a supplement inserting zone; I

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 through newspaper feeder rolls and conveyor rollers of the invention; 1

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing in greater detail the initial newspaper opening and conveying rollers; I

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIG. I showing conveyingand holddown means for the opened newspaperthrough a supplement inserting zone; 5

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 1 showing in greater detail the opened newspaper conveying and holddown means; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modifled form of supporting trough and conveying means to prevent smearing of newsprint.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In our copending application above-identified, the method of separating a newspaper is schematically illustrated. Referring to FIG'. I the apparatus includes in operating sequence for continuous operation, a feed-in zone; a probe and opening zone; an opened paper conveyor zone; a supplement insert zone; and an opened paper and supplement registration zone. These zones are appropriately indicated on FIG. 1. As shown' in FIGS. 1 and 2 a folded newspaper 10 is fed into the apparatus in the feed-in zone and as is usual the feed-in mechanism includes a plurality of endless members in the nature of resilient springs 12 in a longitudinally spread parallel array, which are appropriately driven and 'which convey the newspapers into the present apparatus. The folded newspaper with its folded edge leading are fed over upper and lower sets of feed rolls 14 and 16, with the rollers in the sets being angled in an upward direction which. permits the paper to enter a feeder plate 18 of appropriate curvilinear configuration'with proper, and necessary curvature. The feeder plate 18 feeds the folded newspaper into a trough generally designated 20.

.Trough 20 is in the nature of an elongated guide channel. Double stacked rollers 22 which are appropriately driven, and being of a design and construction for cation the rollers shown at 22 may be identically constructed, for example, to have a bevel of 10", 4, and on their sides, while being mounted upon shafts 26 which are appropriately driven. These rollers pull the newspaper downwardly in trough 20 while at the same time urging itforwardly and into sliding contact with a fixedteflon slider strip or plate 28. The double stacked rollers areutilized in order to obtain earlier contact with the paper fed in this section. As the paper is advanced into the probe and open zone similar rollers 30 move the paper in the trough along the slider strip 28. The leading edge of the newspaper is contacted by probe 32 which is pointed and..disposed at an upward angle as shown. The mounting for the probe, which is adjustable, is generally indicated at 34 which permits vertical and angular adjustment'thereof. The probe is spring pressed bymeans of spring 36. The probe also is angularly adjustable by means of a bolt or the like shown at 38. The probe preferably is' constructed of milon, or the like, with a pointed end and pivotably supported uon the shaft. The compression spring and'adjustment mechanism permits varying pressure in a lateraldirection upon the probe.

In a preferred embodiment the probe or separator device consists of a 7 inch length of teflon rod having a 30 angle at its tip to initially penetrate the closed newspaper and start to open it. The rod itself continues to open ,the paper and is kept at an angle of 24. The penetration angle is reasonably critical since too small an angle would tend totear the paper, and taper over too long a physical distance to open it quickly. 'Too large an angle will buckle the paper. The rod angle to the base is preferably 24. However, it is adjustable'and an angle between l-35 appears'satisfactory.

The so initially opened paper is then passed into the open paper conveyor zone where the bottom folded edge of the newspaper is contacted by a movable belt conveyor 40 of any desired construction, such as a flexible belt appropriately mounted ondriven rollers 42. The newspaper is conveyed by the belt 40 along and through a an elongated guideway 44 having upper-inclined sides 44A and lower vertical sides 448, the guideway being open at the bottom to permit the newspaper to contact conveyor 40, and as seen from FIG. 5 the sides of the opened paper are supported by the sides 44A. The paper is thus supported in its open position during passage through this conveyor zone and subsequent zones.

A paper holddown mechanism generally designated 46 is operatively associated with guideway 44 and conveyor 40. This holddown mechanism consists of a series of metal plates 48 attached to a metal belt drive 50. This construction permits flexing around corners as shown. Spaced along the belt are a plurality of laterally extending arms 52 which protrude from each side of selected plates. In a preferred embodiment the arms are spaced approximately 24 inches and have a length of approximately 3 inches. These arms help as a positive drive mechanism to the open paper. The holddown plates actually hold the open paper against-the moving belt at the base. I

Conveyor 40 and holddown mechanism 46 are driven in synchronization and carry the paper through guideway 44 from the open paper conveyor zone into the supplement insert zone where the supplements can be inserted by any known mechanism. Following insertion the open paper and supplement are carried through a registration zone which is facilitated by means of the arms which serve as pusher and registering lugs.

In FIG. 5 a guideway 44 is shown and constitutes a workable embodiment. As the paper slides in this guideway however some ink may be smeared. In order to alleviate this situation a modified embodiment is shown in FIG. 6.whi ch includes open upper end trough 54 for reception of the folded edge of the newspaper and positioned thereabove a plurality of rotating wire bands 56 running in synchronization with the holddown mechanism to carry the paper rather than just support I it. Such a construction will substantially eliminate ink smearing.

The paper with the supplement inserted is then removed from the apparatus as shown for further disposition.

While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, obviously minor changes in details of construction can be effected without. departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in and limited solely by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus to facilitate insertion of newspaper supplements comprising:

A. an extended trough;

B. feed means for introducing folded newspapers into said trough with the folded bottom edge down; C. means slidably supporting said newspapers in said trough;

D. drive means for sliding said newspapers through said trough;

E. a newspaper opener in the line of travel of said newspapers engageable between newspaper pages in proximity the upper free edges thereof;

F. an elongated guideway extending beyond said trough and having a portion thereof extending through a supplement inserting zone;

G. a moving belt conveyor below said guideway for conveying opened newspapers into and through the supplement inserting zone; and

H. moving newspaper holddown means extending downwardly into travelling engagement with the interior of opened newspapers and in synchronized speed with said belt to maintain newspapers open through the supplement inserting zone and in operable engagement with the moving belt.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said holddown means comprises a flexible drive member and a plurality of plate members attached thereto to permit flexing around corners, said plate members being engageable with the newspaper interior to effect holddown and contribute to movement thereof by said belt.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, including a plurality of arms attached to and extending from opposite sides of said drive member in spaced positions therealong to permit newspapers to fit therebetween for positive moving thereof and registration of inserted supplements.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said guideway'has an open bottom and angled sides for sup- 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the plate consists of Teflon.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said extended trough including open angled upper side portions and vertical lower side portions terminating in an open bottom, said supporting means being below said open bottom, said feed means including juxtaposed upper and lower sets of rollers, each-set including at least two transversely spaced rollers upwardly angled toward the center with respect to one another to impart a central upward curvature to newspapers being fed.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, said feed means including a plurality of endless flexible bands entrained over said sets of rollers and conjointly feeding newspapers therebetween.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, including a curvilinear feeder plate positioned above said trough, in proximity to the discharge position of said feed means, for positive feed of fed newspapers into said trough.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a plurality of pairs of driven rollers engageable with opposite sides of a newspaper inserted in said trough operable to downwardly draw said newspaper into contact with the supporting means and impelling the newspaper therealong.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, said pairs of rollers including, at the entrance end of the trough, vertically superposed plural rollers to facilitate drawing of fed newspapers downwardly into said trough. 

1. Apparatus to facilitate insertion of newspaper supplements comprising: A. an extended trough; B. feed means for introducing folded newspapers into said trough with the folded bottom edge down; C. means slidably supporting said newspapers in said trough; D. drive means for sliding said newspapers through said trough; E. a newspaper opener in the line of travel of said newspapers engageable between newspaper pages in proximity the upper free edges thereof; F. an elongated guideway extending beyond said trough and having a portion thereof extending through a supplement inserting zone; G. a moving belt conveyor below said guideway for conveying opened newspapers into and through the supplement inserting zone; and H. moving newspaper holddown means extending downwardly into travelling engagement with the interior of opened newspapers and in synchronized speed with said belt to maintain newspapers open through the supplement inserting zone and in operable engagement with the moving belt.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said holddown means comprises a flexible drive member and a plurality of plate members attached thereto to permit flexing around corners, said plate members being engageable with the newspaper interior to effect holddown and contribute to movement thereof by said belt.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, including a plurality of arms attached to and extending from opposite sides of said drive member in spaced positions therealong to permit newspapers to fit therebetween for positive moving thereof and registration of inserted supplements.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said guideway has an open bottom and angled sides for supporting opened newspapers through the supplement inserting zone.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the sides of said guideway comprise a plurality of flexible bands driven in synchronism with said holddown means to carry open newspapers and prevent ink smearing through contact with the surfaces of said guideway.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said extended trough including open angled upper side portions, and vertical lower side portions terminating in an open bottom, the supporting means comprising a plate of low friction coefficient material positioned below said open bottom.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the plate consists of Teflon.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said extended trough including open angled upper side portions and vertical lower side portions terminating in an open bottom, said supporting means being below said open bottom, said feed means including juxtaposed upper and lower sets of rollers, each set including at least two transversely spaced rollers upwardly angled toward the center with respect to one another to impart a central upward curvature to newspapers being fed.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, said feed means including a plurality of endless flexible bands entrained over said sets of rollers and conjointly feeding newspapers therebetween.
 10. ApparAtus as claimed in claim 9, including a curvilinear feeder plate positioned above said trough, in proximity to the discharge position of said feed means, for positive feed of fed newspapers into said trough.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a plurality of pairs of driven rollers engageable with opposite sides of a newspaper inserted in said trough operable to downwardly draw said newspaper into contact with the supporting means and impelling the newspaper therealong.
 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, said pairs of rollers including, at the entrance end of the trough, vertically superposed plural rollers to facilitate drawing of fed newspapers downwardly into said trough. 